Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield Sing Elliott Smith Reawaken Songs for a New Generation

 We had the pleasure of seeing "Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield Sing Elliott Smith” live at the Neptune Theater Thursday night. Avett and Mayfield played to a completely sold out and (although seated) a very enthusiastic crowd. 

It's a humbling experience to watch musicians of a higher caliber completely dedicate an album and performance to another musician. There is no doubt that Smith’s songs were performed with the respect and sincere admiration that it deserved. This tour seems to be a theriputic release as the two musicians find solace and kinship through a great artist that has come before them. 

Avett is best known for his punchy, alt. folk band with brother Scott, The Avett Brothers, and Mayfield

drips 90s despair rock like a candle with a flame that burns too hot. It's an odd pairing on paper, not 

Avett and Mayfield, but Avett, Mayfield and Smith. Mayfield comes closest to Smith lyrically in her 

own right, and as Avett sings some of the more painful of Smith's lyrics, there is still that familiar 

bouncy feel in his voice that has made his main act a success.

But there is beauty on this record. Mayfield's voice on "Angel in the Snow" is starkly beautiful, distant 

and haunting. Avett's arrangements, stripping down Smith's more orchestrated tracks, leaving Avett 

alone with his guitar, allows him to embody the loneliness Smith thrived in creatively. If there is a fault 

with the record is that it seems that Avett can't get out from behind that Avett Brothers sound. "Baby 

Britain" comes across like one of the brother's more mellow numbers as Avett plucks and strums, his 

voice carrying the familiar North Carolinian melody. Not that he shouldn't be allowed to put his own 

spin on Smith's back catalogue of notable hits and fan favorites. In fact, it's a good problem to have. 

For the listener who doesn't know Smith's work, but puts on anything featuring an Avett singing, this 

album of covers serves as a good introduction to an artist whose career ended far too soon.

It's hard to judge an album of covers from an artist with a following and reverence as strong as Smith's. 

Recording the album is a bold move, one that has taken Mayfield and Avett three years to complete. 

The premise alone may have some critics balk at the idea. However, it's a pleasure to hear Smith's 

lyrics in a fresh medium. Avett and Mayfield took Smith's work down more of a folk path and the 

songs fit the genre well. "Pitseleh" has both Mayfield and Avett taking lead vocals accompanied by a 

lonely guitar, banjo and piano. "Let's Get Lost," a fan favorite, stays close to its source material, but 

Mayfield's vocal accompaniment makes the track. Her voice, low and sultry on this record, is hard 

to ignore. Smith's songs operate in a type of vacuum of singer-songwriter genius; many have tried 

to capture Smith's brilliance in their own music and come up short. Avett and Mayfield, on the other 

hand, play the songs they love to listen to and perform them as they would one of their own. It's nice to 

give the songs a chance to breathe.

"Memory Lane" is a fitting choice to close out the record. It features some the most orchestrated 

arrangements. Avett's voice gives the isolating lyrics an uplifting feel and its evident Avett feels some 

kinship to the words. One could argue, with his new found fame, Avett would rather be back, settled 

into that little house, strumming a guitar and playing the songs that move him. The album is a good 

listen for the Smith fan-base and a great companion record to one's Avett collection. But its greatest 

achievement is reawakening Smith's songs from a long slumber.

Words by Craig Brown

Photos//words by Adam Richert